Federal workers fare well without union

Thursday

Apr 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMApr 28, 2011 at 7:09 AM

Abramo Ottolenghi's assertion that Ohio Senate Bill 5 tilts the field completely against public employees is a nonstarter ("Editorial ignores scope of Senate Bill 5," letter, last Thursday). The largest employer of nonunion public employees in the United States is President Barack Obama himself. Federal employees were forbidden to unionize by that icon of brilliance, President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.

Abramo Ottolenghi’s assertion that Ohio Senate Bill 5 tilts the field completely against public employees is a nonstarter (“Editorial ignores scope of Senate Bill 5,” letter, last Thursday). The largest employer of nonunion public employees in the United States is President Barack Obama himself. Federal employees were forbidden to unionize by that icon of brilliance, President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.

One never hears that federal employees are treated unfairly. Each year they, as do all nonunion employees in the country, have to rely on their bosses to give them a fair rating, and one is judged on merit (his accomplishments for the year).

Incidentally, many federal employees also have been on the merit-pay plan, also a gift of Carter, and again they fare quite well. Many of the lower-level employees receive average bonuses of $3,000-$4,000 each year in addition to fair salaries.

And let us recall that those magnificent Democrats George Meany (AFL/CIO head, god of the unions even today), and none other than Franklin D. Roosevelt, the wisest Democratic president ever, warned against public employees’ unionization.

Last, Obama would argue against the assertion that he is an unfair man. As he has said on television, he is “all about fairness.” What a nice employer, eh?